Liner for wire-line clamps



P. M. REA.

LINER FOR WIRE LINE CL Avmcmou FILED FEB. 13. I

1,339,420. n e y 11, 1920.

wZizdc/ra ar- PHILIP M. REA, OF WEST CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

LINER roa WIRE-'LIN'E'GLAMPS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 11, 1920.

Application filed February 13, 1920. Serial No. 358,492.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PHILIP'M. REA, a citizen of the United States, residing at West Chicago, inthe county of Dupage and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Liners for ire-Line Clamps, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to liners for cable clamps or as they are commonly termed wire line clamps. Clamps of the type to which my invention relates are employed in the drilling of oil and other deep wells and the weight carried by the clamp is so great that the cable or line must be gripped very tightly. Ordinary liners are so formed that their pressure upon the line tends to flatten or crush it; and one of the objects of my invention is to provide a liner which will avoid this objection. Another objection to the liners as ordinarily constructed is that the cable sometimes jumps sidewise out of them. It is one of the objects 01" my invention to avoid this objection also.

Liners of my construction are applicable to clamps of various types, but I have chosen to illustrate my improved liners in connection with a type of clamp which forms the subject of a copending application filed by me May 8, 1919, Serial No. 295,750, allowed J an. 13, 1920.

I obtain my objects by the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which.

Figure 1 is a top plan view of my improved liners shown in horizontal section and mounted in a clamp of the type shown in my said copending application.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the liners looking "toward the left in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan section of the liners taken on the line 3, 3, Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a plan section of the liners taken on the line 4, 4, Fig. 2.

Like numerals denote like parts out the several views.

With respect to the clamp, it will be sufiicient for the present purpose to state it has two jaws 1, 1 which are connected by pins 2, 2 to a connecting'link 3. To prevent wracking, the jaws have intermeshing gear teeth 5 arranged concentric with the respectiVepinsQ, as shown in dotted lines in Fig, 1. The free ends of the arts are connected by a yoke 6 of any suitable design. By

through- .kinds, they are commonly applied to means of this yoke the pressure of the liners upon the cable is regulated.

Fitting within vertically arranged sockets 8 formed opposite to each other in the inner faces of the jaws, are the liners 9 which are vertically grooved at their inner faces to cooperatively engage the cable or line 10. While clamps of this class might possibly be applied to cables of various wire cables composed of helical strands of wire with or without a fibrous center core. The cable is, of course, virtually cylindrical and the concave grooves 12- of the liners are preferably semi-cylindrical and of a diameter about the same or slightly larger than the diameter of the cable with which they are to be used. The liners are removable and interchangeable and hence by selecting liners of the proper internal size cables of different sizes may. be engaged. The average depth of the liner grooves is approximately equal to the radius of the cable upon which it is to be used, with the result that when the liners are in close contact-that is, closed tight shut, the grooves when viewed from the top give the appearanceof. a circle centered at what may be termed the median or diametral plane indicated by the line AA, F g. 3. i

The marginal edges of the'liners, where they most closely approach each other, should. not in practice actuallycome in contact, for the pressure created by the clamp should be exerted by the iiners upon the cable and not upon each other. For this and other reasons, the statement that the internal grooves of the liners are semi-cylindrical should be interpreted as approximate only-at least in an ordinary case. For the purpose of explaining the principle of the invention, however,the marginal edges of the liners may be regarded as in contact or practically so when the liners are closed to the limit. The median or diametral plane (which, of course, is imaginary) may be defined as that plane which passes through the center or axial line of the cavity formed jointly by the two liners, and normal (perpendicular) to the direction of pressure of the liners upon the cable. In my liners the two outer marginal edges (the ones located farthest from the gear teeth 5) instead of being plane and lying at equal distances from the median plane have extensions or projections 14 which come opposite to in dentations 15 formed in the opposite liner. The length of these projections and indentations may of course be varied but may appropriately be in the neighborhood of an inch and a half long. By preference, their ends are not square but are beveled as indicated in Fig. 2. The projections extend approximately to and preferably beyond the median plane and the opposite indentations are cut back from the median plane far enough to avoid contact with the projections when the cable is tightly gripped. The marginal edges 16, being nearer the center of the clamp, where the movement is least, need not be thus serrated.

The result of this offset construction of the outer edges of the liners is to cause them to completely encircle the cable or substantially so, even though they are not in actual contact with each other. The consequence is that the pressure of the liners on the cable cannot flatten it and it therefore always maintains its cylindrical shape and hence its strength. Another advantage of this construction lies in the fact that the cable is effectually prevented from slipping out sidewise from the liner grooves.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. Liners for wire line clamps having concave surfaces facing each other for engaging the line between them, one of the liners having an edge at the margin of its concavity projection beyond the median plane of the liners and the other liner having an indentation opposite to said projection for accommodating it.

2. Liners for wire line clamps having opposed concavities for receiving the line, the edge of one of the liners having projections and indentations alternating With each other vertically, the projections extending fully to the median plane, and the other liner having indentations opposite to the aforesaid projections and projections opposite to the aforesaid indentations, the projections on the last mentioned liner extending fully to the median plane.

8. In combination, a line clamp having jaws movably joined together, means for moving the jaws toward and from each other, and liners mounted on the inner faces of the jaws and having concavities for receiving the line, the marginal edges of the liners having projections alternating with indentations, and a projection on one liner coming opposite to an indentation on the other liner and the projections extending beyond the median plane and the indentations not reaching to the median plane.

4-. A wire line clamp having relatively movable jaws and removable liners mounted opposite to each other on them, the liners having concavities on their inner sides for accommodating the line, and the marginal edges being adapted to substantially meet eaclrother along'a broken line passing first to one side and then to the other side of a plane passing through the center of the line at right angles to the direction of pressure of the liners upon the line. 1

In witness whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

PI-IILIP M. REA. 

